Circulating Podocalyxin, Tumstatin/Col-IVα3 and Chitinase 1: New Culprits in Vitiligo Occurrence.

INTRODUCTION

The roles of anti-adhesive podocalyxin (PODXL), anti-angiogenetic tumstatin/ Col-IVα3 and neuro-inflammation and innate immunity modulator Chitinase 1 (CHIT-1) in the etiology of vitiligo have not been studied yet.

OBJECTIVES

This study was planned to detect changes in serum PODXL, tumstatin/Col-IVα3 and CHIT1 levels in vitiligo patients.

METHODS

This case-controlled study was performed on a total of 50 patients, 25 with vitiligo and 25 healthy controls. Participants in the vitiligo and control groups were matched in pairs for age and sex. At least 8-10 hours of overnight fasting, venous blood samples were taken from the participants in both groups and serum levels of podocalyxin, tumstatin/Col-IVα3 and CHIT 1 levels were measured by sandwich enzyme immunoassay.

RESULTS

In the classification made according to the vitiligo European Task Force evaluation criteria, 18 of 25 vitiligo patients were in the slowly progressive phase and 7 patients were in the active progressive phase. Serum podocalyxin levels increased significantly in the vitiligo group compared to the controls (7.03±2.09 ng/ml vs. 4.99±1.20 ng/ml, p<0.02). However, serum tumstatin levels in vitiligo patients showed a significantly lower course compared to controls (4.88±1.76 ng/ml vs. 6.05±2.19 ng/nl, p<0.03). Serum CHIT-1 levels of vitiligo patients (42.4±7.22 ng/ml) were found to be significantly higher than the serum levels of the control group (34.5±5.33 ng/ml) (p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

High podocalyxin and CHIT1versus low tumstatin levels are new biomarkers that support the role of anti-adhesive, anti-angiogenic and neuroinflammatory pathways in the formation of vitiligo.